Ok here goes a true and false health quiz
1. Switching from regular to diet soda helps you live longer?
2. Which change helps you live longer, cutting fat or cutting calories?
3. Which exercise is believed to help you live longer, push-ups or squats?
now for the answers
are you ready
are you sure you are ready
ok here goes
oh wait a minute, you are not suppose to peek at the answers yet
ok I will write them for you in a second
ok a second has past.
The Pop Quiz Answers
Here are the answers to the pop quiz with a little commentary from yours truly: Actually the commentary is from Jillian the Trainer from the Biggest Loser program.
1. False. Diet soda is some nasty stuff, and if you don't know how much I hate it, you're not paying attention. Research indicates that diet soda raises the risk of metabolic syndrome, and the artificial sweeteners in it can throw off the way your brain associates sweetness with caloric content.
2. Cutting calories may help you live longer. Research has found that animals on calorie-restricted diets have longer lives; it's thought eating fewer calories makes the body more efficient.
3. Squats contribute to longevity. How? They help you develop lower-body strength and improve balance, which may keep you from falling and cracking a hip in old age. (You might think this an odd longevity-booster, but broken hips can be devastating to older people — it's often the event that strips them of their mobility and independence.)
So get off that Diet Coke, cut those calories, and do those squats — got it?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
How to break the sugar habit
When I was reading the newspaper from Las Vegas I came across this article and thought it would be a great article to post on my blog. I hope it will help with breaking the sugar addiction, I know I sure have it.
Break Your Sugar Addiction
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Q: Help! Quitting smoking was nothing compared with quitting sugar! I am addicted and can’t stop eating it. I want to eat a healthy diet, but seem to be unable to because of the sugar. What can I do to combat this? — Anonymous
A: Keep trying! You’re right that it’s tough: Recent research on rats found that they get the same neurochemical kick from sugar as from morphine, cocaine and nicotine. We think that this surge of pleasure is behind sugar addiction in humans, too. The good part: The principles we teach smokers to help them quit will help you kick your sugar habit. Here are six ways to set yourself up for success:
1. Make a pact with yourself to cut sugar out of your life. Studies show that making a serious commitment to doing whatever it takes to break an addiction is one of the most important steps toward beating it.
2. Set a quit date at least a month from today. Give yourself time to mentally prepare for the quitting journey and clear your pantry, car, desk and gym locker of sugar in all its forms, including food and drinks containing honey or rice syrup and high fructose corn syrup (that includes most ketchups, many sports drinks and even coffee creamer).
3. Start walking 30 minutes a day. Exercise, like sugar, releases mood-enhancing hormones. Later, when sugar abstinence causes a dip in feel-good hormones, you can add a tension-relieving five-minute walk to this regimen.
4. Gradually cut back. Begin by reducing the sugar you add to tea and coffee. Then substitute something healthy for two or three of the sweet foods you usually have.
5. Visualize a slimmer, healthier you going for a walk, sipping on water or practicing deep breathing when you’re stressed. A little role-playing helps you practice alternatives to eating under pressure.
6. Think of the three biggest reasons why you want to live a sugar-free life, write them on a card and read them several times a day.
In time, your brain chemistry will readjust and those cravings will stop.
Q: Will crunches get rid of my belly fat? — Theodros, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A: Not by themselves. Combine ab work with other resistance exercises, aerobic exercise and calorie restriction, though, and you’ll lose the bulge and maybe even have a six-pack to show off. Traditional crunches strengthen and tone the muscles that connect your rib cage to your pelvis . But to lose the roll, you’ve got to empty those fat storage depots that sit on top of the muscles, and that’s what diet, muscle-building and aerobic exercise do. Raising your heart rate helps reduce the unhealthy, deep fat that lies beneath your abs — another storage depot that crunches don’t touch.
Break Your Sugar Addiction
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Q: Help! Quitting smoking was nothing compared with quitting sugar! I am addicted and can’t stop eating it. I want to eat a healthy diet, but seem to be unable to because of the sugar. What can I do to combat this? — Anonymous
A: Keep trying! You’re right that it’s tough: Recent research on rats found that they get the same neurochemical kick from sugar as from morphine, cocaine and nicotine. We think that this surge of pleasure is behind sugar addiction in humans, too. The good part: The principles we teach smokers to help them quit will help you kick your sugar habit. Here are six ways to set yourself up for success:
1. Make a pact with yourself to cut sugar out of your life. Studies show that making a serious commitment to doing whatever it takes to break an addiction is one of the most important steps toward beating it.
2. Set a quit date at least a month from today. Give yourself time to mentally prepare for the quitting journey and clear your pantry, car, desk and gym locker of sugar in all its forms, including food and drinks containing honey or rice syrup and high fructose corn syrup (that includes most ketchups, many sports drinks and even coffee creamer).
3. Start walking 30 minutes a day. Exercise, like sugar, releases mood-enhancing hormones. Later, when sugar abstinence causes a dip in feel-good hormones, you can add a tension-relieving five-minute walk to this regimen.
4. Gradually cut back. Begin by reducing the sugar you add to tea and coffee. Then substitute something healthy for two or three of the sweet foods you usually have.
5. Visualize a slimmer, healthier you going for a walk, sipping on water or practicing deep breathing when you’re stressed. A little role-playing helps you practice alternatives to eating under pressure.
6. Think of the three biggest reasons why you want to live a sugar-free life, write them on a card and read them several times a day.
In time, your brain chemistry will readjust and those cravings will stop.
Q: Will crunches get rid of my belly fat? — Theodros, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A: Not by themselves. Combine ab work with other resistance exercises, aerobic exercise and calorie restriction, though, and you’ll lose the bulge and maybe even have a six-pack to show off. Traditional crunches strengthen and tone the muscles that connect your rib cage to your pelvis . But to lose the roll, you’ve got to empty those fat storage depots that sit on top of the muscles, and that’s what diet, muscle-building and aerobic exercise do. Raising your heart rate helps reduce the unhealthy, deep fat that lies beneath your abs — another storage depot that crunches don’t touch.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The 5 min chocolate cake
Dangerous Cake Recipe
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips, optional
small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time - day or night!
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips, optional
small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time - day or night!
Friday, February 20, 2009
pay it forward
The Rules}
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your 3 Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your 3 Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
50th Anniversary
This is an amazing year for our 50th Anniversary, we got to celebrate it twice. Once in Carson City with one half of our girls and once in Wasilla with the other half of our girls. Can you imagine 50 years? NO, well it is 50 years and we are still each others best friend, soul mate for life and forever after. I can say this, he still makes my heart flutter and gives me butterflys in my stomach. We still hold hands, we still hug and we can tell each other everything so there are no secrets with us. I remember when we were first married and living our first real apartment on Camp Pendleton and we were sitting at the dining room table and we were dreaming of our family where they would be sitting and what we would say to them and then we were laughing and planning on our 5th anniversary then we were thinking about 10 years and laughing we said we wondered what we would be doing at 25 years and then the unthinkable 50 years wow, and here we are planning on our 75th. It really does not feel like 50 years have passed and we have so many memories and we still have our dreams. Now here we are 4 children,17 beautiful grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren in our lives and we have been blessed with so much goodness and we have so much to be thankful for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
